Bolingbroke Papers (manuscripts and letters): British Trade in Spanish America

£3,500 · Offered by Maggs Bros Ltd

Overview: A number of copied letters and manuscripts (all in the same clear hand) from a collection of the papers and correspondence of Henry Saint-John, Viscount Bolingbroke, whilst in the Office of Secretary of State. They concern British trade in Spanish America (specifically the “South Sea”), leading up to, and during, the War of the Spanish Succession (1701 – 1714). In the war, England formed part of the Grand Alliance, which backed Charles VI (King of Germany, Archduke of Austria) against Philip, Duke of Anjou, for the Spanish crown. Had Charles successfully claimed the throne, he would have become Charles III of Spain, hence his title in the material. The most arresting content accounts for two important points: firstly, how Britain’s enemy in the war, France, had made perceived advances in South Sea trade (see: Texier’s memorial*) and secondly, how Britain and her allies planned to exclude the French in the future (see: two copied treaties between Queen Anne and Charles III of Spain). That the papers belonged to Bolingbroke adds extra spice, as he is shown, in a number of letters (see: Parke, pp.35-40), to have been an advocate of the expansion of British trade in the South Seas, while also being identified for his French sympathies throughout his political career. * Gilbert Parke, the editor of Letters and Correspondence, Public and Private, of the Right Honourable Lord Viscount Bolingbroke (G.G. J. Robinson 1798. University of Chicago), notes that he possesses “two

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